The present invention relates to a support fitted with several circularly arranged, sensor-controlled rotatable platforms for bottles, which is rotated by a drive mechanism and with which a plane, stationary, preferably closed cam is associated which is made contact with by sensors of the platforms, said sensors rotating the platforms forward and backward via cam-guided lever arms and gears with pinions mounted on the shafts of the rotatable platforms.
In a known device for rotating platforms for bottles the shaft of each platform is engaged by a lever arm which is guided directly in a plane cam. Such a rotary control with cam-guided lever arms makes possible a range of rotation of the platform of about 90.degree.. Greater ranges of rotation with this kind of rotary control would result in excessive stress on the cam and drive mechanism.
In a more advanced version of this known device, the range of rotation of the platforms is increased by mounting a gear between the lever arm and drive shaft consisting of a pinion mounted on the drive shaft and a toothed segment which is engaged by a cam-guided lever arm. Based on the transmission ratio between pinion and toothed segment, a range of rotation of up to 270.degree. can be achieved with this slow guidance of the lever arm.
In both of the above described devices, the rotatable platforms are mounted directly in the support. With the platforms with gears, the shafts of the platforms and the toothed segments are separately mounted. Because of the required slow guidance of the lever, this construction necessitated for a clockwise rotation a different arrangement of the mountings for platform shaft and pinion than for a counter-clockwise rotation.